Federal and State Court Litigations, 1837–1843

During the depressed economy of 1837–1843, federal and state court litigation channeled political conflicts into state police powers and federal commerce power governing states’ admission or exclusion of white foreign immigrants, free blacks, or slave traders. Despite economic distress, federal and state courts generally affirmed admission of foreign immigrants and free blacks in Northern states, while the Supreme Court proclaimed Southern state supremacy in the exclusion of free blacks and the regulation of slavery. The first section of this chapter locates the Taney Court’s 1837Milndecision—including the disputed “commerce-person” distinction—within New York’s admission of white immigrants